


Lone

by DontWearItOut



Series: Lone [1]
Category: Shadowrun, Shadowrun: Hong Kong
Genre: Angst, Canon Divergence, Combat, Denial, Execution, Gen, Hallucinations, Killing, Light-hearted moments, Loss, Memories, Minor Character Death, PTSD, Pain, Spoilers, Tension, Violence, minor gore, slightly AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-31
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-17 12:34:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29100357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DontWearItOut/pseuds/DontWearItOut
Summary: The year is 2056. Duncan Wu, a Lone Star officer from Seattle travels to Hong Kong with his brother and his partner in order to help his father correct a past mistake.Nothing goes as planned.Can he hold it together as he's forced to abandon his old life, and enter the shadows?Canon Divergent Fic where Duncan is the protagonist and team leader instead of the player character. Updates every Sunday.
Series: Lone [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2135136
Comments: 8
Kudos: 7





	1. Rough Start

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Duncan tries to keep it cool as he deals with the brother he didn't see coming.

Strong lights shined all over Hong Kong, a city-state filled with decadence and muck.

Duncan Wu stood at a water taxi drop off point with his police partner from Seattle, Carter. His father lately hadn't been himself, always mumbling and going on in private to himself for long periods of time. Something wasn't right, and his suspicions were confirmed the day his father packed up before he even came home from work, said to meet him in Hong Kong, Victoria Harbor. Nothing had ever felt right about this, his father Raymond never spoke of what was wrong, determined to the end to keep whatever was going on a secret.

"So, How bad do you think it is?" His partner Carter said, the slender elf gave him a glance as she begun to light a cig. "Who knows, maybe we'll be back in Seattle in a day or two."

She throws a hopeful smile his way, sensing his uncertainty. Optimism was always Carter's thing. The officer relaxed against a crate on the harbor dock, at ease as she seems to take the area around them in. Carter would never really see things as hopeless, finding a way to keep a cool head through any situation. Duncan envied it as a creeping feeling in his gut tells him this won't be easy, first his father storms off with barely a word.

Now he has to see the brother that abandoned him 8 years ago to boot.

Memories swirl out of the pit he threw them in so long ago, of when they were street kids in the Seattle Barrens who had nothing and meant nothing. Doomed to die to either street violence, starvation or worse. Until one day, they meet Raymond Black, a kindly old asian man who takes them in, provides that little light at the end of the tunnel and slaps some sense into them. It was like a dream come true for a street kid. Getting a nice home, food on the table, and actually being raised. Raymond had been a little strict with them over the years sure, but it was out of care and not malice.

Then one day, his brother sneaks out in the middle of the night from home. Goes off on what he says is a quick "job", and never returns. Raymond refuses to mention him again over the years, as Duncan can't help but think about it.

Where did he go?

Why did he leave him there to pick up the pieces?

The thoughts start to dissipate as the sounds of a water taxi come on the horizon to the harbor. His brother was here, Duncan had left a bag filled with some body armor and a note for him for that specific water taxi operator to hand over. Duncan was dreading this moment, of all the times in the world he had to see his younger brother Sketch come back into his life, why did it take their father's vague message to bring him back into the fold? Did he not matter to him anymore?

Duncan manages to shove them away when a figure comes off the water taxi, a thin tanned ork with the dumbest grin on his face. His outfit was tacky, odd, and filled with all kinds of decker paraphernalia, a blue goggle overlay on his face as he moved in front of Duncan.

"Heya Dunk! It's been so long!" The ork casually said, looking him up and down as if surveying him. "Wow, your a big guy now huh? Can't believe you've grown so much taller than me!" Before any more could come out, Sketch seemed to gag as if about to throw up.

"Save it, you look like your about to hurl." Duncan remarked casually as his brother gagged before gathering his composure again. Eight years, and this was the response he got? How could he act like nothing happened! "I'm surprised you can't handle the harbor smell, we used to put down so much synthol as street kids." He can't help but let out a quick chuckle thinking back to old times, before quickly getting back on track.

"Anyway, not like it matters. We gotta find Raymond, the old man hasn't shown up yet. I tried him on comm but...No response."

Almost on command to the sentence, Sketch stops and stands adroit, seemingly unaffected by the harbor smell and diesel in the air now. "Well what are we waiting for then Dunky! Weeeeee've got to find him right now!" Sketch puffs his chest up, trying to look tough as he marched forward in a huff, before stopping almost immediately. "And wait just one darn drekking minute there MR WU! Youuuu haven't introduced me to that lady friend of yours!"

Sketch didn't hesitate to make a big damn show of the sentence, dramatically waggling his finger at Duncan before pointing over at Carter. The elf officer struggled to hide back a laugh as she turned to Duncan. "Yeah Mr Wu, you haven't introduced him to me." Duncan cringed at having to deal with his brother's eccentric behavior, surprised that he was so full of positive but immature energy. "This is my partner, Carter. I brought her because I didn't know what we were dealing with, and I wasn't sure if you were gonna come y'know?" The sentence awkwardly hangs in the air for a minute, as Sketch isn't sure what to tell him. Staring down at his shoes for a bit, the decker looks back up and tries to put on a front.

"I get it Duncan, I screwed up, but lemmie try again! I'm here aren't I? I.... I can't make up for what happened, but atleast-"

"No, let's just get a move on. Follow my lead."

Duncan wasn't having it with his jackass brother little anymore, as Carter and Sketch trudged along. A awkward silence remained as they went down Victoria Harbor, interrupted as Duncan found himself face to face with a closed gate, no person in sight to open it to allow them to pass through to the street ahead.

"Huh what the hell? It's locked."

Duncan attempts to give the gate a push, but it's no use as his brother chimes in for a moment, "Why Duncan! Watch a real professional at work here!" The ork decker proceeded to spit on both of his hands, with as much exaggeration as possible before clasping them together and slamming them against the closed gate, shouting with excitement, "OPEN SESAME!!!" Unfortunately, nothing happens and after a few seconds Carter chimes in, holding back a snicker. "I'm not sure how things work here, but I don't think we're getting through this way. C'mon rookie, we can cut around the nearby construction site."

Duncan turned around, a hint of embarrassment on his face at the remark, "I hate it when you call me that." as Officer Wu moved over to the nearby construction site, a gate blocking their way as the party approached.

"I'll have this open in a second-"

"Why allloowwwwww me missy!" Without a second to lose, Sketch had already gone onto the nearby access panel, barely a second passing by as he hacked into it and overrode, allowing the party to get in.

"Is he always like this Duncan?"

"I don't even know. I haven't seen him in years." Was all Wu was able to say as he walked forward into the construction site clearing, leftover debris in the area scattered about. Keeping his rifle up at the ready, Duncan starts to look around for anyone else in the area. Suddenly, two figures move into his line of sight, hastily speaking Cantonese to each other. "Movement!", Duncan shouts as multiple gangers popped into their range of vision, weapons training on the group.

"Lone Star, lay down your weapons!"

He shouts while keeping his rifle aimed at one of the group closest to his line of sight and flashing his badge at them, Carter's hands begin to glow with magical energy as Sketch awkwardly shuffles himself into a safe position with his pistol in hand. The gangers give each other a look, before one starts to respond to Duncan.

"Nice try rent-a-cop. Judging from that badge, I'd say your some mall security guard who's lost, you've got no jurisdiction here buddy." Going off the speaker's cue, one attempts to take a shot at Duncan, driving him to react and fall down into cover as they begin their assault, a mage and a few gun wielding thugs taking various positions to try to shoot at the team, all close to each other.

"Oh no! Duncan I think their trying to kill us!" Sketch yelps as he attempts to take a few shots with his pistol, missing completely before dropping back into cover.

"Huh Sketch, you think!?" Wu replies sarcastically as he attempts to survey the situation, bullets start flying from the gangers as Carter dashes to drop behind a few crates for cover, magical energy gathering in her hands before it manifests in a shining ethereal ball that shoots out with the flick of her left hand, the magical attack humming as it moves through the air before bursting in the middle of the ganger group, killing 1 and scattering the others.

Duncan notices and presses the advantage, aiming his rifle carefully at one of the running gangsters head and sending him on a one way trip to the morgue. Only two more stood before the group. There isn't much the remaining 2 can do, as one desperately takes out a knife and attempts to charge towards Duncan, but a quick pistol shot from Sketch stops him midway, sending him sprawling onto the ground as the decker adjusts his aim, firing a second shot to the head to end the knife wielding thug.

"Wow Duncan, this is so easy!"

For a moment Sketch distracts Duncan, as a crackle of energy shoots through the air and catches itself on his left shoulder. Wu curses as he winces from the pain, hunkering down behind cover to avoid a follow-up from the mage. His brother just had to open his big mouth in the middle of a fire fight. Carter pops from cover to return the favor with a magical projectile of her own, catching the mage from behind. Duncan peers out, taking a shot with his own weapon to finish them off. As he moves out, clutching his shoulder. "Fucking hell."

His elf partner moves towards him, channeling a quick healing spell that fixes the magical wound."You think those were triads? Looked like them." Duncan only offers her a quick look as he notices another gate up ahead. "Could have been, let's keep moving." Wu continues, not acknowledging his brother's presence for the moment. Killing wasn't something he took pleasure in, but he knew those thugs had to be put down.

Upon moving closer, the gate is wide open, as Sketch catches up with the pair, eager to throw another quip their way. "Oh geez guys, looks like someone else has been here alrea-" quickly Duncan moves one of his hands over Sketch's mouth, ssshing him a conversation starts to become louder in the distance.

"Where's everybody else?

"What the fuck do you mean Long Wei isn't here? I bet he wants us to come over and pick the crap up ourselves. Come on fellas, let's wait here and make him come to us."

Multiple gruff voices came from around the corner, a subtle peek around led to Carter seeing 3 most likely triad associated men coupled near their bikes, a good distance away from them. "Looks like there's more than we thought Wu, 3 more right around the corner, they definitely haven't seen us yet." Duncan released his hold over Sketch and gave him a stern look in the eye that communicated quite eloquently to shut the fuck up, as he turned towards Carter. "Good, we can slip past them then unnoticed, last thing we need are more bodies around here."

"Or we could gun them down, don't need them catching us from behind or anything. Your call though."

She deferred to him, as Duncan immediately moved forward, eager to get the hell out of there. "Come on, we can slip past them through that alleyway just ahead of us", rushing ahead carefully Duncan directed the group to follow him. He didn't want to go killing more people than he needed to, it brought out a bad part of him, reminded him of when he was younger and how he used to get his kicks hurting people.

A pang of shame comes as the thoughts flow, memories of a time when him and Sketch were just kids in the Seattle Barrens, relying on stealing and violence to get by. He stops as the group turns a corner and goes through the alleyway, avoiding the triads as the memories take hold for a second. Images swirling before him of beating other people, enjoying every second of it at the time.

Back in the Barrens, Duncan never really was much of a thinker, always allowing Sketch to tell him what to do and who to hurt. Counseling Raymond got him had helped suppressed this, let him move on and start to forget all about that. But the reappearance of Sketch in his life caused the Ork to think back for a minute more, let the memories stick for a second. Eventually, he chases them away, shoves them back down into the pit where he wants them to be. Now's not the time to look back at the past, Raymond was missing and he needed to find him.

"Hey...Duncan, listen I, I know we didn't get off on the right foot but, I just want you to hear me out for a second." Sketch says, awkwardly shuffling in front of Duncan as they start to clear through the alleyway and into another street. Another group stood in front of one of the buildings before them, but they were too far to make out any significant details yet. "Not now Sketch. We can talk later, what matters is finding Raymond. You've got 8 years of explaining to do for leaving us behind" He quickly blurts out, giving his brother the cold shoulder as he turns away. Duncan wasn't in the mood to deal with him right now. He needed to focus, keep a cool head while things went wrong and ideally keep them from getting even worse.

The group steps forward into a wide street, getting a closer look at the group before them, appearing organized and alert. Their nothing like the previous triad's the party has run into, each one looking in a different direction. A bulky male troll cybered to the gills, a female ork with fetishes all over her, an elf standing back, slightly distant from the group. For a moment Duncan does not see anyone else, until in the corner of his eye he makes out a dwarf girl with a cyberdeck on her back, as he approaches the male troll with a confident expression.

"Evening Folks, seen a kindly old man around here?" Wu sizes the troll up, bravado in him greater than double the Troll's height, as he receives a look of indifference. "Nope. Can't say that I have." Patience began to leave him, "Is that so?" He nods, before raising his assault rifle up and aiming it at the group, but by the time he does a array of guns is trained on his skull. A vein almost threatens to pop out of Wu's skull as he stares down the group, agitated. Carter raises her hands, flickering with magical energy to back him up, eyes scanning the group. "Alright everybody let's just play it cool!" Sketch bumbles his way into the stand off, drawing his pistol with hesitance. "Y-yeah guys, I don't think any of us want to end up in a dumpster."

The troll takes note of Wu's companions, those with him training their weapon's solely on Duncan. "Oh it's a little late to turn it down don't you think?" Duncan catches himself before he does something he might regret in response to the troll's words, relaxing the grip on his trigger for a second as the officer takes a more collected approach. "I'm looking for a old man named Raymond Black, we were supposed to meet up here. You know him?" The troll doesn't change his expression as he responds. "Never showed up. We were supposed to meet him here. Been waiting for about a hour."

"You know him? Tell us everything! NOWWW!!!" Sketch shouts, forgetting the stand off for a second while declaring his demands, a rare moment of seriousness from the decker.

"Now hold on-"

**BANG!**

In a flash, the troll's head is reduced to bits as his body slumps to the ground, 3 more shots firing before anyone can react.

Duncan only manages to turn around before he sees Sketch fall forward, a gaping wound in his chest, and Carter's body fallen to the ground, brain matter scattered all over the ground. Words fail him as his body kicks into autopilot. He wants to scream, to shout, to turn everything off and hope this isn't what he really sees. The emotions hit him like a tidal wave, as he clings to the hope of keeping Sketch alive, no time to process when a flurry of bullets is about to come your way. His hands become claws, refusing to let go as he pulls his brother and himself behind a mailbox as cover. Attempting to get a better look at the wound as the others around him rush to cover.

"Stay with me Sketch, I'm not losing you again!"


	2. Falling Hard

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Duncan attempts to pick up the pieces, without getting his head blown off in the process.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings on Violence, Angst, some indications of corpses/a little gore. (Last part won't be a thing for most chapters)
> 
> Also, I'm very new to describing action scenes.

Duncan's hands clutched Sketch, attempting to assess how bad was the gunshot wound. A hail of bullets flying down on his position as words were shouted by all parties around him, but he ignores them. It doesn't matter what's being said, Sketch's life is at risk and Duncan won't lose him to Hong Kong. He passes a glance to Carter's dead body, her head splattered all over the pavement. How did it come to this, how did it all go so wrong? There's no time to register what's happened as Sketch groans, speaking as a trickle of blood goes out from his mouth.

"Dunk..You gotta, you gotta get out of here. Go! It's too late f-" Sketch coughs a notable amount of blood, his face contorting into a expression of pain and torment.

Wu doesn't buy it, this has to be Sketch being overdramatic about being shot! He's patched up wounds in the field all the time, they'll make it out of this fine is what Duncan tells himself until the wounds brevity registers.

Sketch's lung has been pierced.

"Don't say that Sketch, I'm getting you out of here. We have to find Ray-"

Sketch promptly proceeds to clutch Duncan's hand, releasing a credstick and a thumb drive into his palm as he lays back in cover, a cacophony of blood trickling rapidly down his lips as the wound grows worse. "I-I don't need this where I'm going Dunk, I'm sorry. I was the worst brother you ever ha-" His words are interrupted as even more starts to splatter out from him, his shirt becoming a red mess to boot.

Wu's not having it with him, immediately pocketing the items before standing up and attempting to pick Sketch up with him to heave him to safety. "I just, I'm not letting you go again!"

A grenade falls down close to the pair, Sketch being the only one who sees it.

The sentence doesn't finish, as Sketch with the last of his strength shoves Duncan away hard, and throws his body on top of the grenade. His last thoughts are of hope, hope that Duncan will make it out of there alive, that he stopped fucking everything up for once in his life. Sketch could never make it back to his former family until today, but he wasn't about to let the world take both of them at the same time. A single tear sheds from his eye, as the blast rings out and his vision goes to white.

It happens too fast for the Lone Star officer to react properly, moving with the push behind a car next to them to maintain cover as his brother's body is reduced to a bloody mess with a boom. Almost nothing left of him from the explosion. Sketch is gone in a instant.

There's no time to think.

His officer training kicks in, eyes darting back and forth rapidly from all incoming armed assailants as Duncan's emotions take a backseat for a minute, there was no way he was gonna die here. To his left and right, Hong Kong police officers swarmed on their position, barking orders and commands amidst each other. There was a sniper that was another concern to deal with, outgunned and outnumbered he begins to contemplate his options and almost loses hope, until a voice behind him shouts for his attention. 

"Hey!!!", the ork shaman from earlier shrieks at him, calling his attention onto her. "Look, we have a way out of this, just at the end of the street we can make it to the sewers. We need to work together to get out of here." It registers now to him, that she has tried to get his attention a few times. "Ok. Let's go." Duncan replies, numb and not expressing any emotion with his words, struggling to keep it together inside as the situation before him escalates. The Lone Star officer raises his rifle to properly take aim at one of the officers attempting to flank them from his position, before two bullets to the head pop him into the morgue, blood splattering around as his corpse meets pavement.

Following his execution, The ork shaman proceeds to take cover near him, and cast a uplifting spell upon Duncan, his body beginning to feel lighter and more invigorated, as if he had twice the energy he did before, quickly throwing suppressing fire at another cop down the street. A small figure which turns out to be the decker from earlier barrels past them to a nearby barricade, whipping out a grenade launcher tinted to match their outfit and firing, the grenade flies through the air before a resounding boom turns two officers behind cover ahead of them into a bloody mess on the street.

With how quiet the decker had been, Duncan almost forgot about her presence.

Wincing at the killing internally, he makes a effort to not show any of it. This was why he had even become a cop, he wasn't a reckless killer on the street anymore, but had instead taken the time to make something of himself. Carter had helped him get past his violent urges, help see the bigger picture in life. Let all that bad shit go away, be what he wasn't before and live you know?

Now she was just another body. Nobody would know her story, who she was, or care except for him.

Wu's vision goes from clear to seeing red. These people took Carter and Sketch away, took Raymond away from him. Now he was gonna put them in the ground. In the time Duncan has hesitated to act, his "companions" have moved forward, exchanging shots with the armada of cops blocking the way.

A blockade of cars remained their primary obstacle from escaping to freedom, multiple officers behind cover attempting to take aim, as a shaman proceeds to conjure a fire elemental spirit to attack the party. It crackles from a fetish the shaman drops onto the ground, manifesting in a burst of flames and smoke menacingly as it lurches forward. Multiple police drones, a elemental spirit, and a few officers were a recipe for disaster. The situation required some quick thinking, or else they would get pinned down in the middle of the street.

Duncan recklessly runs forward, the sniper taking another shot that barely misses him before ducking behind a nearby car. The fire elemental spirit's hands crackle with flames hungry to burn, before launching a blast close to the ork shaman, leaving a large fire nearby. "Anyone got any wise ideas!" She shouts, attempting to pin down the officer's firing back at them with the SMG in her hands. The drones move out, attempting to position themselves to flank the group.

Quickly, Duncan from his position takes aim, popping out with his rifle quick enough to take aim at the shaman controlling the flame elemental, before a burst of bullets comes flying out of Wu's weapon, piercing through their chest and offing them as the elemental vanishes back into nothing. The decker dashes nearby, taking cover next to Wu and firing two well timed rounds into the hull of a police drone, leaving only one active.

One manages to catch him by surprise, attempting to fire into his back, but not before a well timed round right in the center of it's optics region from the dwarf sends it to the scrap heap.

"You owe me for that." Her voice is flat, but a hint of a smile comes up. For a second, she makes Duncan forget that their strangers to each other. Their shaman companion proceeds to drop forth a elemental fetish of her own, with a burst of stone, a earth elemental springs to life with fists that could crack open a car in seconds. The being hovers forward behind the officer's cover, proceeding to cause chaos as it starts to manically flail its limbs at them. Wu turns to capitalize on their movement, popping a few shots from his weapon to drop them as he reloads.

The carnage around them is a sight to behold, the street their on reduced to a mess of bodies, a car on fire, and several blood splatters across it. In the heat of it, Duncan feels something he's wanted to push away for a long time, something he never wanted to come back again. Images hit him of beating people up in the Barrens for food, for money, sometimes even just for the hell of it as a misguided kid with Sketch. Struggling day to day to survive in the wild streets of Seattle. He refuses to let that mentality hit him again, taking no pleasure in the lives lost today. 

Another failed sniper shot even closer to Wu brings him back to his senses as it hits the pavement near his foot, The shaman with the two rats on her is ahead of him, followed by the little decker. They've wasted no time while Duncan was stuck in his memories. "Hey come on, we're not coming back for you if you stay behind!" If she cares she doesn't let it show, as he attempts to rush forward.

Duncan is stopped seconds before he can make it behind cover and into the sewers, as a loud shot resonates through the air and pierces his lower left leg, causing him to trip and fall forward.

"Augh!" He cries out, this has to be it for him, Duncan struggles to crawl forward and pull himself behind another nearby car, barely able to stand. A gaping hole in his left calf was a grim reminder of the danger he was still in, anything could go wrong right now. "Help!" He gambles, placing his trust in the two he's been forced to stick with. The shaman had to know a healing spell.

The female decker calls out to her friend, currently close to the exit. "Come on Gobbet, we don't need the cop to come with us!" She shoots a firm look the shaman's way, doing everything but scream for her to get out of there and leave him. It was bad enough half their team was dead, they didn't need to die for some stranger goodie two shoes they met off the street. Gobbet looks at the sight of Duncan fighting to get up and observes more officers advancing from the distance behind them. If they didn't interfere, he would bite it.

Gobbet curses as she dashes over to him and proceeds to preform a healing spell on his leg, the wound slowly closing as he winces. "Come on big guy, we're not out of here yet." Duncan hesitates to say anything to her, he doesn't know anything about her, and frankly he's not sure if he wants to know anything about her or the decker accompanying her.

The image of Sketch and Carter's bodies remains fresh in his mind, replaying back and forth as Duncan starts to attempt to get up. Why did she even care about him? She could have just walked away, let him become another forgotten body in Hong Kong just like his partner and his brother had become.

This was all kinds of fucked, he wanted to put the streets behind him, and now instead the life he wanted was going behind him. How would he get back to Seattle, how would he find Raymond? If the police are willing to blow their heads off, what caused them to go after them? The questions surge through his mind like lightning, five more forming for each one he attempts to focus on as his leg is as good as new. "Ok, lets get out of here."

The quiet dwarf provides cover fire from her position, exchanging shots with her pistol at the never ending wave of officers coming their way as Gobbet and Duncan make their way to the exit. A stray bullet grazes her cheek hard, making her fall back with a fresh stain of red pouring down. "Izz!" Gobbet calls out, before roughly pulling her friend up to follow her, the dwarf clutching her face as the party retreats down in the sewers.

Duncan is unable to help himself as he grants one last look back, he wasn't going to get to bury his brother properly, or Carter. There were so many things he never got to say to him, regretting his earlier brush off of Sketch as the Lone Star officer descends down, now alone and stranded in Hong Kong.

The descent into the sewers is rough, after running for what feels like a indeterminate amount of time the party stops to catch their breath. Duncan's breathing is ragged as he falls to his knees, thinking back to how everything went wrong for him, how wrong this entire little trip to Hong Kong had gone. He contemplates just how bad was Raymond's business, as the shaman bends over and clutches her knees while breathing, seeming on the verge of tears.

The small decker's wound isn't bleeding as much, she holds a thin rag to it, laying her free hand on her companion's leg in a attempt to comfort her. In the light of the sewer, Duncan sees how young they appear, perhaps younger than he is, maybe even no older than 20.

He fights to find the words to say, to keep moving forward to another task in hopes that it'll just "solve" all of this.

The words fail to find their way to his mind, his goggle covered eyes staring down at the grimy sewer floor. The only sound audible to the party being the bile filled waters going through it. It stays for a while as Gobbet speaks up.

"Alright, We lost them." The shaman sniffs at the air, reluctant to move. She sizes up Duncan, thinking of what to say to him. "Well, best of luck to you and finding your friend." 

Duncan immediately looks up, confused. "What? That's it? Your just gonna leave?" It's not like he didn't see this coming, but at the same time he didn't want this to happen. What would he do alone? Man was dead on his own. Gobbet looks down at him, annoyed. "Of course that's it. What did you think we're gonna do? Just run out and help you get revenge? Sorry, but you saw the heat out there." She turns around, her back to him to leave. "We don't intend to die for you, now come on Is0bel."

The decker appears to be sweating, as she speaks quicker than usual. "Gobbet, we need to go now. Their after us too." Her voice betrays her expression, sounding panicked while she maintains a straight face. As a news report plays out on her PDA, describing the exact ambush that just took place in Victoria Harbor.

"...And our sources report that Seattle Natives Duncan Wu and Sketch Wu, alongside their accomplices in Hong Kong are still at large. Terrorists tied to the cell known as White Star, which is suggested o be receiving weapons and funding from the anti-corporate groups in the UCAS City-State of Seattle. The Hong Kong Police Special Duties Unit has been deployed to deal with this threat as we now go live to Chief Inspector Krait of the Special Duties Unit with a statement of her own. 

The words easily flow out of the reporters mouth as images of Sketch and Duncan appear on the screen, before being replaced with low-res images of Is0bel and Gobbet. The video report then switches to the same street the shootout had taken place.

Several reporters are focused on Krait, who appears to be standing in the middle of the street, a armored officer who begins to speak in a rehearsed manner.

"What happened tonight was a coordinated effort that was stopped. We have already issued a APB as well as a Kill or Capture order for the remaining terrorists on the loose. This manhunt will be SDU's top priority-"

Is0bel quickly closes the report, as Gobbet proceeds to panic, inhaling and exhaling quickly while the rats on her body scurry all over the place, emulating the panic of their owner. Duncan stands up, a look of grim determination on his face. "We're fucked." are the only words he gets out, but he doesn't let it stop there. There had to be a way out of this. "We gotta get out of here, go into hiding or something. Their not stopping until we're dead."

The decker and shaman before him exchange a look, as Is0bel feels for a solution. "Hey, you have a SIN right?"Her voice is monotone and deattached as the words come out, Duncan gives her a face of confusion. "Of course I have a SIN, only criminals burn their SINs. How else would I get paid?" Suddenly, it dawns upon him why they may have asked about it. They were gonna burn his SIN. "No. No way, I am not getting rid of my SIN, I'm dead to the world if that happens! How would you even do that, burning a SIN is very hard." 

Is0bel raises her hands in exasperation at Duncan, speaking in a condescending tone. "You can't keep your SIN, they'll find you easily. And the two of us will get brought down right along side you because of that."

She pauses for a moment, contemplating as she chooses her words. The last thing they needed was the cop storming off on his own and getting the rest of them killed.

"We need to take you to our Fixer, Kindly Cheng."

Gobbet, having stopped her panic starts to chime in and cuts off Is0bel. "Kindly Cheng is the only person we know with the resources to get your SIN burned, she's what's known as a Straw Sandel for the Yellow Lotus Triad syndicate. A middle manager for them."

Wu reaches to cut them off immediately, a glare coming out of Gobbet as he speaks up, louder and standing up fully. "No! We're in so deep, there isn't any other way? I can't work for some Triad boss. Do I look like a criminal to you? Damnit I'm tired of running from the cops. This has to be just be a misunderstanding." Duncan reaches for his PDA, attempting to see if he can contact anyone from Lone Star to help him out of this. Mentally, he clings to the slight hope of being bailed out.

The locked notification he gets reminds him of the circumstances, he couldn't contact anyone from Lone Star, and was now locked out of the network, in frustration Wu slams the PDA down on the ground, before crushing it in anger, stomping on it until there's nothing left to take out his rage on. He went to Lone Star to have a frame in his life, something that kept him together, but in just a few moments that had been utterly sliced from his life. As if the wave of a hand had changed his status from Lone Star officer to Hong Kong criminal.

Wu clutches his fists, rage boiling inside of him at the hand life's dealt him. Stuck in the middle of Hong Kong with nothing. "Damnit I-I can't! What the fuck is going on here!"

"What do you think is gonna happen Duncan? That your just gonna go back to Seattle, and wake up like this is all a bad dream? Look around you. We need to get your SIN burned for all our sakes. Now come on, let's go before this gets worse."

The shaman says as she gestures for him to get a move on, Is0bel stands before him as well quiet and not commenting on the display before her. As Duncan Wu slumps forward to the exit out, fearful and afraid. He tries his best to put on a strong facade, but it fails him. What was he gonna do now?

Duncan thinks back to the thumb drive Sketch handed him, contemplating what was on it that he wanted him to see as he steps out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Loss changes alot about people. How does Duncan act when he doesn't have his lifeline the player around anymore? I wanted to play around with a more emotional Duncan, who's struggling with this new experience, and doesn't have that person to lean on and "defer" to in judgement


	3. Crashing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Duncan narrowly escapes death, but fails to escape things bigger than him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter contains Hallucination and slightly more angst than other chapters will. As well as a tiny amount of gore.
> 
> I delayed this chapter for a week to better settle on how I wanted it to go.

Hong Kong's MTR tunnels unfurl before Duncan like a never-ending maze. Concrete and filth-covered tracks the only sight his eyes take in for the next hour, as following Gobbet's directions feels like traveling into a abyss. Barely able to see ahead, unsure of where your going with a side of garbage, rats and decay. Exhaustion begins to bite into Duncan's heels, the feeling only registering now that death's scythe wasn't looming over his head currently. The night was still young however, as another close call dawns on the horizon with meeting the pair's fixer Kindly Cheng. Triad's were cold, calculating and unpredictable. Wu had been no stranger to their behavior as smuggling, blackmail and executions in the night said it all.

Like a lost child, Duncan maintains pace behind Gobbet, trusting the shaman to guide him forward into the night. She had saved the officer once, technically twice already. But would she stick around for a third time? Trust was foreign to him, reserved for people like Carter and Raymond only. Reality with a cruel smack had tossed his life up, plucked them away and replaced them with the pair of low-lifes before him.

This was all Raymond's fault for getting involved with these people.

The thought worms it's way into his skull followed by another one, teasing a plume of frustration out from inside.

This was all their fault.

Raymond was only a misguided old man, desperate and confused. Had it not been for their team and fixer, maybe none of this would have happened. After all, who chooses a broad street to meet up in? In a second the scene plays out in his mind of the Victoria Harbor ambush, moments before the sniper shots ring out and details clear as day. Why would a team of shadow runners awkwardly stand near such a open place? How did the HKPF know to ambush them there?

Doubt, a familiar friend settles in his stomach as Gobbet raises a hand to signal for the group to stop. "Here, climb up." She assists Is0bel in reaching the platform above them, before climbing up and Duncan follows, getting on in a second as the group stands together in silence. Standing together in the dimly lit MTR Station, light pouring in from the exit out. Nobodies eager to speak first. Gobbet rushes quickly breaks it, moving in front of him and looking him dead in the eye. "Alright, so here's how it's gonna go down. We need to burn your SIN asap, before you bring down the HKPF down on all of us. So, we're gonna go ahead and arrange a meeting for you with Kindly Cheng." Quickly, Wu moves to interrupt her, taking off his goggles in exasperation.

"Your just gonna leave me here?"

Duncan poorly holds his facade of strength and discipline, expression shifting to one of reluctance. Inside he didn't want them to walk away from him. There was no chance of surviving to see the sunrise alone, especially in unfamiliar territory. You don't wake up and find yourself taking a trip into the criminal underworld the very next day, but here he was, stuck in the cesspit of Hong Kong without anyone to count on anymore. Raymond was gone, Sketch and Carter reduced to bits, and now even though the two strangers before him were going to leave for just a bit, it didn't really feel like it would be a bit. It would be so easy to toss em to the cops, abandon him just like the man's brother had for years.

Fear and Paranoia dominate Wu's thoughts as any semblance of confidence is reduced to nothing.Gobbet's expression begins to lighten, she's seen it before, he's about to snap. Before she can say anything Is0bel cuts in, maintaining her de-attached tone from the situation. "Listen. If we don't go ahead and explain things, we might not make it there without a bullet in our brains. Strangers don't do well in Heoi. All you have to do is wait a few minutes." If she cares she doesn't show it, as Duncan allows himself to feel a sliver of hope in her words. They didn't abandon him when they had the chance to before, so why would they now?

"Ok." Are the only words that come out of Duncan's mouth as he stares forward, Gobbet resuming her explanation. He doesn't listen to the words, instead he ponders on what will happen from here. What's gonna happen if that SIN of his is really deleted forever? Where would he go? Were they gonna lead him into working for the triad boss herself? The idea burns itself in, refusing to leave once he thinks of it. The entire point of Lone Star was to escape that possibility, get it out and build a real future.

The ideas dance around in his head like a mad circus of mockery. "Your never gonna get out Duncan." A voice teases at him, seemingly coming from nowhere. Another throws itself into the fold, casting a devilish grin at him via it's words. "You want this Duncan. We know why you really wanted to get into Lone Star." The voices relentlessly stab at his psyche, each word a freshly brandished dagger that sinks into his skin.

"No, I'm not like this." thinking to himself, as the voices deny any hope of respite, growing louder and louder. Two becomes three, as three slowly escalates into a orchaestra preforming at Duncan's expense. Soon, a red like mist shifts and ebbs into existence in his vision as the voices overtake him. The MTR starts to distort before Duncan's eyes, what was originally a run down station starts to twist and fold, reddish tones overtaking the colors of the area. A vague visage starts to appear before him, of odd white shapes before it starts to manifest, resembling odd teeth.

It now dawns on him that Is0bel and Gobbet are no longer there.

Nobody is here, there are no exits as he feels as if the walls are caving in. The stairs to come out into the street have been replaced with a flat concrete wall as the vague manifestation of teeth before him becomes more solid. The floor itself feels like a trap, the walls and even the very air. Every thought inside him shifts to screaming to get out as the teeth twist and turn to form a large sinister mouth before him. What seemed like regular teeth begin to almost infinitely multiply, rapidly becoming a serrated series of dozens of knife like fangs before him. A gaping bloody maw being the owner.

A familiar voice interrupts Duncan's mania from behind.

"Heya Dunk!" A hand clasps his shoulder, as he looks back and sees Sketch standing right before him, perfectly fine. "Sketch! I-I thought! I thought you-" His jaw drops at the sight, as his brother stands alive, eagerly moving in front of the heinous visage before him and assessing it with enthusiasm one could only dream of.

"Wow Duncan! Look at those pearly whites! Y'know, I think we should jump right in! Come on!" Sketch casts a eager, and immature look at his brother, waving his hand at him to come on already.

In almost a instant, Sketch has pried open the "mouth" before him, and eagerly leaped down it's throat.

"Sketch! No! I'm not losing you!!!"

Duncan leaps forward after him, not caring what happens. If his brother's back, he has to stop whatever's going on!

"...Is0bel he's not budging!"

Duncan's body is frantic, rushing like a rabid animal forward. Gobbet unfortunately being in front of him during his attempt, and feebly attempting to hold him back. "Sketch, I'm not letting you go out like this!" He roars, hands flailing manically as the raging mass that is Duncan Wu pushes himself forward, Gobbet barely being able to keep him in place.

In the midst of the struggle, she forces open her astral senses in order to perceive Duncan's aura, confused as to his sudden outburst. Sure, the guy was a little off his rocker, but he didn't seem like the type to hallucinate. Tinges of smoke begin to register as Gobbet just barely manages to slip into astral awareness. His aura is a mess, originally resembling the smell of black coffee and hazelnuts before twisting into something else, Is0bel attempts to grip at his leg only to be kicked away a good distance by him and collide with a wall, biting her lip from the pain as a resounding thud goes out from the impact.

Gobbet's senses are overwhelmed by the new smell of smoke, smoke that seemed to endlessly build up and cling to your lungs, as she feels it clinging to his face.

"...Damnit let me go! Stop holding me back!"

Chains gripped at Duncan's arms, the teeth being replaced by a big wall in front of him. "I won't let you keep me from him! I'm not messing this up again! Out of my damn way!" He tries to fight against the chains, rage overtaking his thoughts. Damnit, wherever he was now Sketch was in trouble. Slowly, he starts to overpower the chains and takes them very hard in his hands, hearing a cry of pain unusually as he attempts to crush them. But it doesn't matter, now he just had to break them off and he could get to where-

"Izz!"

BANG!

A shot rings out, as Duncan is dragged forth from the strange and foreign miasma that he was in. Instead, he's back in reality, a massively sharp pain ringing through his foot. Is0bel has her pistol in hand, a distance away from him and a fresh shot discharged. Gobbet is face to face with him, fear in her eyes as his hands are over her forearms, violently gripping them and almost about to shatter them. The look on her face says it all, twisted in pain and unable to fight back.

In the next moment his grip is released. Duncan collides with the cold hard floor, howling in pain as he clutches his foot, fresh red coming out.

"What the hell is your problem. It's bad enough we had to take you with us, and this is what you do?" Is0bel's words are venom as Gobbet remains quiet, more preoccupied with casting a healing spell over her almost shattered forearms, wincing from the pain as bone and tissue begin to resettle.

Duncan is left speechless, unable to understand what just happened. Shame trickles down to his core at the occurrence, having attempted to crush the arms of the person that saved him merely a hour ago. "I, I don't know what happened! I saw all these teeth and-" Gobbet quickly cuts in, understanding dawning on her face. "Wait! Izz, he's seeing things just like everyone else!" Wu makes a befuddled expression, forgetting about the red seepage coming from his foot for a second as the pain reminds him of it. "What? What the fuck do you people have going on here? You mean to tell me this kind of shit is normal?"

Hong Kong had been strange enough as it was. A never ending whirlpool of new experiences for Duncan that didn't hesitate to go further with each passing hour. Taking care of herself for the most part, Gobbet runs over to Duncan and attempts to work her magic on his foot, as Is0bel does not put away her weapon. "So? What if he does that again Gobbet, what if he hurts you or me or-"

"I'll figure it out Is0bel. We don't have time to worry about that yet. We need to get this over with."

Is0bel's expression doesn't budge until Gobbet becomes utterly fixated on Duncan, as he appears to speak to her while being healed. She curses silently, it was always one thing or another with Gobbet. She never thought about the long term consequences or ahead of things. They should have left the cop back there, they never should have taken him with them. It would have been so much easier to just leave him to his fate, did the pair even require Duncan to escape? He would have made a good distraction for them to slip away under, but Gobbet just had to pick him up.

Despite the ever growing list of protests and disagreements, they all remain internal. Is0bel only knew how to think about 10,000 things she wanted to say, but never let them escape her lips. Her face begins slipping back to one of cold de-attachment as Duncan gets up, Gobbet keeping a fair distance from him. Her stance is guarded, eyes watching for any sudden movements as Wu doesn't know what to say. "Is0bel, we need to take him with us, we can't just leave him here." Is0bel stares into Gobbet's eyes, as if attempt to dig something out of her head, furrowing her brow before looking back at Duncan. "You can't just bring him to her doorstep, are you trying to get us killed!?"

But it's too late, Gobbet has already began to go out as she turns back towards Is0bel. "Nah, we'll get out of this Izz, call it a gut feeling."

Is0bel curses at herself, today had gone wrong on so many levels because of this asshole and his problems. Gobbet's gut feelings were full of "fun" surprises whenever they came about, manifesting off the suggestion of her totem Rat. She had never been "wrong", but the results were often unpredictable, often causing the shaman to throw any prior plan out the window in favor of them. Biting her tongue, she begins to walk forward behind Gobbet, avoiding saying anything else for now as Duncan stares at the two.

"Fuck" He says to himself, unsure of anything else to say. Hong Kong had been a series of twists that didn't stop, and at this point Duncan wanted to get the SIN burn over with before anything else strange and unusual happened. Regret remained in his stomach mixing in with shame and a tinge of sadness. The face Gobbet gave as Wu attempted to break her arms now stuck for a while. One more thing to add to the ever-growing list of mistakes.

Duncan steps out of the dim lit MTR station, slapping back on the goggles to mask his uncertainty and fear. As the street lights cascade down on him, bathing him in the neon lighting.

"Let's just get this over with."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally I was going to do a much longer chapter, but it didn't flow as I wanted to so I opted to not cover the Kindly Cheng meeting in this one.
> 
> This is half of a draft I had planned out, I may be doing a sooner update of Chapter 4. I broke Chapter 3 into 3 and 4 because it hadn't flowed properly, and didn't seem right at the time.


	4. Sinking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Duncan steps out into Heoi, shakily trusting the pair of shadowrunners with him. But will he make it out alive?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Contains slight angst and self loathing/regrets.

Heoi unfolds before Duncan's eyes as he steps out into the street lights, thick smog covering the sky as Gobbet and Is0bel move ahead of him. Anxiety lurches from within as his vision is filled with the Hong Kong underworld classic of dirty streets, cheap lights and shady figures standing around, droplets of rain beginning to pour down. He tries to look away from the people and shady businesses that make up Heoi, keep his mind focused on the task at hand instead. Last thing the group needed was any more sudden surprises courtesy of Duncan Wu.

Gobbet and Is0bel don't waste any time guiding him forward, as the walk through Heoi is silent and tense. Nobody speaks for the next few minutes, fear swishing between the party's collective emotions. His thoughts trail back to Sketch and Carter as they walk, he didn't come this far just to bite it so easily. A pang of regret comes from within, remembering his last words to Sketch before the shootout were basically shut up and be quiet. Just be a good little brother and shut up for once, don't run your big mouth. He should have said so much more, been friendlier, something. Ideas ping pong through his mind, refusing to grant him a moment of respite.

_"I failed you, this is all my fault. It should've been me in a body bag."_

The imagery unfolds in his thoughts, Sketch without any hesitation tossing himself onto a live grenade to save him. In seconds being reduced to red paste all over the street. Duncan doesn't know how to make it stop, it keeps going back and forth and he swears each time he can hear Sketch say something else. Hopefully it was a trick of the mind, the ex officer couldn't take it if this was real. Opting to shove it down the memory hole in his head, force himself to forget and trudge forward like a good little Lone Star. That's what he knows how to do, take orders and just follow. 

But there's no orders now, no clear objective beyond finding Raymond. Only bits and pieces of a plan. He was gonna find the one behind this. No matter who or what it was, and make them pay. 

Carter had made things clearer, simpler, and overall better. She was the one that helped him get over his violent streak, make him see the bigger picture. Their plans beyond Lone Star had been grounded up, and tossed into the wind in merely a day. He wasn't gonna stay a officer forever, planned to branch out with Carter and form their own private security. It wasn't a bad plan with their skillset. Unfortunately that was the problem with plans, the slightest shake-up can make the best ones turn to nothing easily. He catches himself standing still for a bit too long, moving to continue with the pair. Their silence wasn't helping his thoughts. 

Is0bel barely acknowledges Duncan's presence, striding behind her shaman friend while occasionally glancing to the side and behind them out of fear, paranoia that a fresh bullet was gonna come their way, or perhaps both. Outsiders didn't last long in Heoi, the longer they stood out with him, the closer death's scythe got, inching it's way for the kill with each passing second.

Duncan occasionally glances while moving with the group, being rewarded with familiar sights akin to the Seattle Barrens, the amount of armed and unsavory people sending a chill down his spine. Heoi was a cop's worse nightmare to be in, as he stands to be the only clean individual in a ten mile radius. One look a little too long sends him the unintended attention of a group, eyes catching his look and staring back. Their demeanor and looks slap him silly with a silent message.

"We don't know you. Your not welcome here."

He fights against his instincts shouting at him to do everything but keep walking. 

Run.

Take cover.

Fight.

The urges are hard to resist, he's seen this situation before, wrong cop in the wrong place at the wrong time always ends the same way. A fresh body with a dozen holes. Duncan has to do something, shoot before he ends up another forgettable face on the floor. Wu's hands freeze up as the group keeps their gaze upon him, eyes starting to harden for a second as if assessing him, their hands ready to whip out their weapons if needed and send him to the afterlife.

A tug on his right hand sends Wu back to reality, turning away immediately to see Is0bel staring up at him, feebly attempting to drag him forward. The sight is almost comical as she puts her all into it, eyes slightly closed as she grunts to attempt to hoist him away.

"Hnnngh...Come on already! We don't have time for this." Is0bel said, fighting to pull the ogre that Duncan was compared to her. Duncan gazes back to where the group was, and finds them no longer there. He panics and moves forward, causing Is0bel to almost trip from his sudden movement. The decker just barely manages to keep herself standing, as she silently moves ahead of him, preventing him saying anything to her. Even though she wasn't looking at him currently, he could feel her dislike of him. The look on Gobbets face earlier as he proceeded to mangle her forearms shoots into memory again like a quick bullet, making Wu wear his shame like a first place medal. The pair seemed close and attacking someones friend soon after meeting them didn't leave the finest first impression.

Gobbet had been quiet the entire time, as if in her own world. He wants to ask her about the images, about what he saw, but she feels just out of his reach. What would he even say to her? Sorry I accidentally tried to kill you? After one more awkward minute of walking, she stops, turning around to speak to him. "Ok we're right here, Kindly Cheng isn't to be fucked with got it? Don't say anything and let us do the talking." Duncan lets her words sit in the air for a second before trying to respond, he opens his mouth to say something yet nothing comes. His thoughts remain a jumbled mess that refuses to become coherent, eventually Wu manages.

"Ok. I'll trust you two with that."

Trust. Life's biggest joke word for Duncan, maybe they'd prove him wrong and not get his brains splattered across a Triad bosses floor. Maybe they would leave him to sink.

Is0bel is quiet, standing next to Gobbet and eying the two uneasily. "Yeah." is the only word that comes out of her mouth as the group approaches a mahjong parlor, a disinterested triad thug guarding the entrance. He perks up, adroit as the pair and Duncan stand before him, about to enter. "Oh your back already? Where's the rest of your team, and who's this?" The thug shoots Duncan a look, intent on not letting him pass through and surveying him. "This guy just screams cop to me, why's he with you?" Gobbet immediately goes to cut him off, not even allowing him to breathe before she speaks over him. 

"Listen asshole, we have some important news for Kindly. You don't wanna be the guy that got in the way of it now do you?" Gobbet said, selling herself with a coy smile that says you can't fuck with me. Disgruntled, the triad thug steps aside and allows the group to travel inside to meet Kindly Cheng. As Wu steps into a uncertain encounter.

Several triad thugs adorn the mahjong parlor, the smell of cheap incense and cigars tainting the air. A woman sits at the end of the room, multiple hardy thugs standing beside her, one in particular whispering in her ear as the party enters. She gazes down upon the trio, a queen ruling over her court as her hazel eyes judge them with cold indifference. Duncan can feel almost everyone in the room stare at him, thinking of how to cut him up and toss him into the bay. There's nowhere to escape, nothing he can say or do as Gobbet goes before who he can only guess is Kindly Cheng, the older cantonese woman cutting her off before any pleasantries could be said and done.

"Why dearest Gobbet, I see your back already! I trust everything went well.....?" She says, leaning in slightly. Her eyes are barely open, fixated into a cold, calculating look that doesn't leave Duncan. Gobbet blusters to respond, a thin bead of sweat running down her face. "N-no Auntie, we ran into a few problems and-" 

"A few?" Cheng cuts her off quickly, not intent on hearing whatever excuses she has. Her eyes are fangs of their own as they descend upon Gobbet, looking down on her. The shaman's head lowers as she is berated. "Oh darling, I don't know what gave you away. Was it the fact that half your team is missing and your the one talking to me? Or that you brought a fucking cop in here of all people? Where the hell is NightJar?" Her voice raises slightly at the last sentence, Gobbet wincing and feeling for the right words to not end up in the ground.

"NightJar and Gutshot are dead." Her mouth twists up a little, as she continues. "We got ambushed by the HKPF, the old man didn't arrive at the meet-up point." Gobbet said, radiating a palpable aura of fear and uncertainty. Her heart threatens to burst out of her chest, composure held by the paper thin faith in her instincts. A friendly nudge inside from her mentor spirit makes her continue.

_"Go on, before she beats it out of you."_

"Everyone that wasn't us had their head blown off, except for him. " Gobbet gestures to Duncan awkwardly, and resumes speaking. "There's a APB out on him, also he needs to wipe his SIN, or-"

"Enough." Kindly said, raising a hand before looking back at Duncan. He meets her gaze, the combat goggles he wore masking any hint of fear as the triad woman assesses him. Frustration and displeasure emanating from Kindly's face. Any second now, he swore she would breathe fire next. "So. Aren't you just the star of the show? The lucky one. Why were you meeting with our client Raymond Black?" Her eyes reading into him as Duncan keeps his cool how he can.

"Raymond Black is my Foster Father. We-" He corrects himself quickly, processing that Sketch is not with him, except he should be there. He was supposed to be there, he _needed_ to be there. With Carter and Sketch dead, he stood there the lone survivor. A foreigner in Hong Kong with nobody to hold on to. 

"Interesting, Your daddy looked like shit when he came here. Shelled out alot of Nuyen to get himself and you escorted into the Walled City. " Kindly said, taking a puff of a cigar in her free hand without delay. "Why shouldn't I get rid of you? As it stands, you being alive is a threat to my business. My little pair of fuck-ups here thought dragging you and your APB to me was such a wise idea. As you can see, their not paid to think." She places down the cigar to get a better look at his face. 

One wrong move, and he was done for. 

"I can be useful to you. Without me, you might not find the person who killed your runners. Since they want me so much, having me around would be good bait don't you think?" Sure, the triads could kill him, but their trail could go cold without Duncan. He had to play it cool, make it seem like they needed him. Some of his experience with thugs and low-lifes was about to save his ass. "I'm good with my rifle, worked the streets for years." Duncan watches her eyes carefully, making sure to not over-step to piss her off. He was already pushing it with that last sentence.

Kindly sits back in her chair for a moment, never changing her expression. "Oh you think your smart don't you? Real fucking smart. I don't need your damn resume. You got a name? Mr...?" 

"Wu, Duncan Wu." The next sentence feels bitter though, like poison as it comes out of him. "Former Lone Star." A part of him dies inside just hearing it come out, "Former Lone Star." He unintentionally says outloud a second time, slightly lowered.

"Yes we heard you the first time. Now, wiping a SIN takes someone like me, the price is very high. Higher than you can-" 

"I know. Why don't we get to the point. What do you want from me?" Duncan interrupts, losing his patience for a moment. Gobbet and Is0bel risk a worried look at him, as Kindly Cheng scowls momentarily at his response. "You would do well to keep quiet and let me finish. The night is still young! Our little Lone Star can go for a swim with just the right words." Kindly said, grinning like a mad wolf at him as he backs down. A demon in her own right. For a second he swore her teeth resembled his earlier hallucination's.

"Now that you've shut the fuck up. We can get on with business. The Yellow Lotus Triad has a strong presence inside the Walled City. I have a associate that won't get in line and thinks he can break off from me. A red pole by the name of Strangler Bao. He's good, but won't obey. I want you to deliver a message to him. Sounds simple enough doesn't it? Catch."

She tosses Duncan a memory stick that falls into his hands. "And one more thing....You are not to kill any of Bao's men. I can't use corpses for anything good. So, I would prefer that you do this quietly.

She turns to look at Gobbet and Is0bel. "The two of you will accompany him. Got it?" The pair noticeably relaxes as they nod their head silently. Cheng lays back in her chair, satisfied. "Good, now go on. Time isn't on your side Mr Wu." With a motion of her hand indicating for him to leave, Duncan trudges out of the parlor with the pair. Relieved that he's managed to live just a little longer. "You've got balls of steel Duncan. Cutting off a Triad boss like that? Be glad she didn't put a bullet in your brain right there." Gobbet gives him a surprised look, before moving ahead of him. "Looks like you got a fresh date with the Walled City! We'll be in and out before you know it." Throwing a slight cheesy smile, the shaman moves ahead to show him where the entrance from Heoi to the Walled City was. Very eager to get as far from Cheng as possible.

Duncan doesn't say anything, surprised at his ability to not get his head blown off so many times in one night. Following along, Is0bel balls her fist as she goes with them. The night had been bad enough as it was, but to return to that hellhole was the gut punch she didn't need. Her thoughts light up, Gobbet's semi-relaxed demeanor being the perfect little match to set her emotions on fire. How could she be so casual about this? Is0bel knows what she wants to say, "Gobbet what the hell are you doing?", "Gobbet you can't take us along on your instincts like that again.", "Gobbet why are you so fine with him??", her protests build up inside once more.

How could she chum up to him so easily? For a moment Is0bel can see the future and the disaster incoming in the next hour. Duncan loses it while in the Walled City and takes the last person she trusts away. NightJar had been a shadowrunner's rarest luxury, the troll being a team leader that had your back all the time both in and out of a mission. Is0bel felt safe with him and the rest of the team, sure it had its ups and downs. However it wasn't as bad as having a unstable ex officer that could snap at any moment. One that could easily mangle Gobbet and her if she got caught off guard. 

She tries to push the thought aside and go along. Izz had never been one to say her thoughts, shoveling them deep down into a never-ending hole. Gobbet was testing how far she could dig it before the decker exploded. Her more carefree attitude was tolerable until tonight. Is0bel had mastered the art of silence though, rarely communicating how she felt to others. It was always a silent complaint here or there, perhaps a verbal snark at worst if she really felt like it. Maybe she would hold, maybe Gobbet would prove her wrong. With half their team down, it was up to Is0bel to be the serious one.

As the party uneasily makes their way to the Walled City, Duncan feels a slight weight on his shoulders.

He was sinking into Hong Kong's underworld, with no way out but to go in deeper.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Duncan doesn't handle being surrounded by criminals very well. Being alone without any lifeline to tell him what to do is foreign to him, but allows him to explore his own thoughts.


	5. City of Darkness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Duncan begins his descent into Hong Kong's Underworld, and finds things uglier than he expected. As the past refuses to grant him a moment of respite.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back to Sunday update schedule! Midterms made me delay this chapter sadly. This chapter will be noticeably longer, trying out different structure and writing for this chapter, so feedback is appreciated.

"This is it, Walled City! Fresh stop for nothing but shit and shit!" Gobbet said as the party arrived, close to their intended destination within the slums. Navigating the Walled City sent a familiar chill down Duncan's spine, feeling as if every corner someone would come at him. It was like the barrens for him, run down and decadent, teeming with unsavory folks or the downtrodden. The shadows of the buildings within grew bigger the further they went in. "What the hell? This is just some slum." Duncan said, uneasy from the smell of the place. He didn't have the sharpest sense of smell, but Wu knew a shithole when he smelled one. "Why would H-"/p>

Duncan's thoughts are interrupted, as he is introduced to the hard concrete ground, tripping over a large mass and proceeding to hit pavement. "What the-" Duncan said as he turns to look at his unfortunate obstacle, finding the smell much closer than before. A strange bag covered mass was next to him on the floor, almost the size of his own body. Grimy red stains littered it, coupled with the low buzzing of flies now registering to his ears. Duncan immediately picks himself up, moving to get away from it as he goes towards Gobbet. "What would Raymond want to come here for? This looks like a place where people come to die." Duncan said, uneasily glancing around himself. 

"Beats me, he kept mumbling something about Prosperity in the Walled City." Gobbet answered, avoiding stepping on a grimy puddle as she walked with them, "Yeah. Your dad kept mumbling to himself about how he just had to get in here, but I don't know what he was thinking. Kept shaking and twitching the entire time." Is0bel said, her eyes gazing uneasily around them. "Every time I come back here..." Is0bel began, closing her eyes for a moment as she twitched with discomfort before resuming. "Too many bad feelings associated with this place. Let's just get in and get out. I don't want to stay in here any longer than I need to." She finishes, looking down at the muck filled ground beneath them.

"You said it Izz. Every time I come here, the energy...It's so toxic. On a astral level it weighs me down." Gobbet said, uneasy as a bead of fur moves around on her shoulders. "Hey, you got something on you" Duncan said, reaching at her shoulder before she catches his hand, the bead of fur now staring right at him. "That something is one of my rats." She hissed at him, before a second furry mass crept up onto her shoulder, the two rats now staring at Duncan with their beady eyes. She pets them gently, as the rats eagerly move all over her. "Madness and Folly have been my pets for a while. Their just the cutest little things aren't they!" One of them proceeds to keep it's gaze on Duncan, tilting it's head at him. 

Duncan maintains his look with the rat, easing up. "Yeah. For rats, are they special? I never saw a shaman with pet rats before." Duncan said, as Gobbet throws him a confused look. "Special? I got them out of a dumpster. You just stick your hand in and fish around until you hit fur! Don't try it yourself though, you'll probably get your hand bitten off." She gives the one that stared at Duncan a pat on it's nose, before it scurries back all over her. "You think those are bad enough. Gobbet's got even more of them back home. Her room is a rats nest. Don't even get me started on the smell sometimes." Is0bel said, a hint of a smile on her face. 

"Hey! It's not that bad. Don't pay attention to her Duncan, let's get back to business. The Lotus Den is what Strangler Bao calls his little base of operations. I don't know where it is, but if we see alot of triads in front of something, that's probably the place!" Gobbet said, as Duncan and Is0bel began to walk with her. "Can't believe I grew up here. This place only manages to get worse and worse, I don't think I could handle coming in here again." Is0bel said, taking in the shit sights of the slums. "Some place. Where would anyone even find Prosperity here? The only prosperous thing here is the smell of shit." Duncan said, taking in the sight of the area ahead of them. 

The party had begun to make their way to a clearing, a variety of cheaply assembled street vendors with their wares in a crude plaza before them. Piles of garbage, muck and puddles of rain littered the ground around them. Hastily constructed tents, as well as small carpets that resembled crude mats to sleep on paved the way past them. Seeing all of this brings Duncan back for a moment to his times in the Seattle Barrens, as he watches two kids playing in the distance. 

The violence that has engulfed his life in one day hoisted those memories, latching onto them with a titanic grip and pulled them back from the depths he threw them down. Something dawns upon Duncan in the moment he sees it all and just takes everything that's happened in, a smile slowly creeping onto his face.

 _"No, that's not who I am anymore."_ Duncan thinks to himself, throwing the emotion away how he can. _"I'm not. I'm not a monster like these people are. I'm not some dog that likes hurting people."_ Grasping for something to take him out of it, nothing provides relief for him as the kids fade from his gaze, disappearing further into the slums. A hand finds itself on his shoulder, he turns around to see Gobbet looking at him, a sympathetic smile on her face. "Listen big guy." She said, gazing back to where the kids were before returning her eyes back to him. "Shit's well. Shit, but we gotta get this done right now, ok?" Gobbet said, letting her words process through him as she turns around to walk away.

"Wait." Duncan said, reaching to grab her forearm briskly. "I need to-" Gobbet winces upon Duncan grabbing her forearm, forcefully pulling it away from him as she shoots Wu a look. Eyes filled with a tincture of frustration, and hurt. "Don't." Is all she says before Is0bel cuts into the conversation "A few Yellow Lotus thugs are ahead of us, which means Bao has to be close by. We don't want to kill anyone, all of Bao's men are Kindly's men. The last thing we need is to make Kindly angrier than she already is." Is0bel shuddered thinking about what Kindly would do to the pair if they messed this up. 

"If they comply, nobodies gonna get put down. We can just go straight through the front door, drop the message and be back before we know it." Duncan said, looking at the two firmly. "We shouldn't go through the front door. Your just begging for a few bodies at that point. " Is0bel said, her gaze trailing off to the side in a attempt to survey a possible alternate pathway forward. "No. This team is my first concern, I don't care about the lives of a few two-bit gangsters. What matters is we get out of this alive. None of us want to lose anyone else today." A slight pause takes hold of the trio, Gobbet looks down for a moment somberly as Is0bel looks up at Duncan.

"I can think of one person we could do without." Is0bel said, turning to Gobbet and clutching her hand momentarily. Gobbet smiles lightly at her, before easing up. "Let's just get this over with. This entire night's shitty enough as it is." Gobbet said as she takes point again, Duncan and Is0bel following behind her. Duncan's eyes trail over the gaze of the destitute as he walks by them, hunger in their eyes. Walking past them is at first trivial, until one reaches at Wu's leg from behind. He roughly pulls his leg away from them, continuing his movement with the group. There was no time to invest himself in other people's problems.

For some people, Duncan Wu was the problem.

Rain began to fall down as the group made their way forward, Gobbet leading the party forward before halting to a stop. True to Is0bel's earlier observation, thugs littered the place before them, blocking the passage into a building that could only be the Lotus Den. "Hey Duncan, got any ideas on what to do?" She said, deferring to him to see what he would come up with. Duncan looks at them, and then back at Gobbet and Is0bel, contemplating their next move. "I'm used to dealing with trash like them, I can talk them down, just leave this to me." He relaxes slightly, _"Finally. I won't have to kill someone to get by."_ Duncan thought to himself as he proceeds to move forward, two thuggish men blocking the way before him. A quick look to the side reveals two more in his peripherals, standing as if unassuming, 

All of them looked armed and prepared to kill. Dressed in a mixed ensemble of various jackets, but all similar blue jeans. Their weapons were vaguely concealed on their person, the two in front of Duncan having pistols at their sides. Duncan approaches the men, throwing his words forward like a sledgehammer. "Hey. I got a message for Strangler Bao, very important from Kindly Cheng. Your gonna wanna let us through."

He wastes no time with his words, as the two men exchange a glance before one sneers back at him. "Yeah? Who the fuck are you? We ain't got word about some hoity toity fucker comin in here to deliver no message. So why don't you get lost asshole?" One thug said, as his friend continues for him. "Why should we believe your with Cheng huh? You look like a fuckin narc." The second thug said, laughing with his companion at Wu. Duncan's face burns with anger, as Gobbet attempts to get inbetween them, "Hey, I'm a local here. We're with Cheng, so why don't you let us go by? You don't wanna be the one who got in the way of her message now do you?" Gobbet said, as the pair of thugs share a uncertain look with each other for a moment.

"Yeah. Say we believe your ass, why should we let you through? Boss man didn't say nothing about a message from Cheng being allowed." In the midst of their conversation, a third thug has begun to walk over from his original position. Clasping his hands heartily down on the shoulders of the two originally talking to Duncan and co, his face is marked with a fiery red tattoo that shines the more Duncan looks at it. "What seems to be the trouble here fellas?" The newcomer said, grinning friendly to Duncan's party as he continues to speak, maintaining the smile of a snake holding back it's fangs. "We don't have a problem on our hands now do we?" 

"Yeah we do, fucker here thinks he can get by screaming he's got a message for Cheng." Another said, causing Duncan tense up. "So, why don't you guys turn around then? Ain't here to dilly dally, unless your lookin for trouble huh?" The polite thug's facial expression turns sour as he speaks, his facial tattoo beginning to glow with a ethereal red tint all over it. The other two thugs tense up, moving slightly closer to Duncan. "Yeah pal, piss off. Maybe your looking to end up in a body bag tonight huh?" 

Duncan's fists begin to ball up, attempting to keep himself still as the 3 thugs go around him, stalking onto him like hyenas messing with a rabbit. "Look at that fellas, he thinks he can get mad! Better go running back to Cheng pal. Before we mail you back to her in pieces." The formerly polite thug said, getting in Wu's face without any hesitation. His face was tanned, partly scarred by seemingly years of triad life. The facial tattoo shines in front of Duncan, as if about to catch fire. The thug's eyes analyzing Duncan as if he were a slab of meat in a deli, ready to cut him up and serve him on a platter.

"You know what?" Duncan looks straight at the trio, seemingly calmer. "Sorry." A gutteral feeling begins to rise from the depths of his stomach, a familiar one from the past as the thugs proceed to laugh at his submission. "Oh baby, thats real fucking rich! Look at em squeal for us boys!" The first thug from before cackles like a madman before Duncan, as the feeling burns through the core of his body. Wu beginning to form a smile on his own face as they laugh at him, it rises slow as a snail while their orchestra of mockery continues upon him. "Watch out! Cheng's getting desperate everybody! I think he's got a few screws loose!" The second said, as the other facially tattooed thug places his hand on Duncan's shoulder, grinning like the devil himself at Wu.

"Your a real kick in my shins y'know? You come here, like a fuckin bigshot, ready to just waltz in like you own the place! I think I'll let you walk away, go on, get-"

Is0bel's eyes dilate, as the sound of bone and tissue crunching rapidly fills the air. The tattooed thug hitting the ground rapidly. _"Holy shit."_ Is all she manages to think, as all hell breaks loose before them. "Oh fuck, this guy's an animal!" One of the thugs screams, as Wu moves forward, smiling from ear to ear.

_"C'mon Dunky, All we gotta do is rough em up! We gotta do this for some of that fraggin food!" Sketch said, as the pair stood right outside of a alleyway in the Seattle Barrens, no older than thirteen at the time. "It's a easy mark for us! Just some squeaky kid we gotta take the food of! Dunk, don't tell me your gettin cold feet on me now." Duncan threw a uneasy look at Sketch, currently wearing a grey tanktop and messy basketball shorts. The young ork grimaced as he looked down the alleyway. "I don't know about this Sketch, he's younger than us. Maybe we can take from a older kid!" Young Duncan said, breathing uneasily. "Now where was that when we took the other kids food huh? How are we gonna eat Dunky! Put on the big boy pants and have at em!" Sketch motioned with his right hand for Duncan to move forward, acting as if he was a attack dog. As Wu trudges forward to the unsuspecting child in the alley, meek and with a small stash next to him._

"Shit! Shoot that crazy fuck!" The first thug shouted, but before the pair can draw their weapons Duncan has whipped his hand at him quickly. Clutching him by the hair, as his free arm snatches the hair of the other thug, hoisting him like a mechanical crane before bashing both of their heads together quickly in front of him. He holds them apart from each other for a moment, tears falling down one of the thug's faces as blood leaks from the side of his head. "Don't! I'll-" The formerly confident thug said, as Duncan Wu only maintains his eerie smile, smashing the two's heads together once more. Before the motion repeated itself automatically, faster and faster until their heads leaked fresh red all over the place. Unconscious and fading in his hands as the fourth thug in the distance takes notice, and begins to run towards him. Brandishing a small blade as his means of attack. 

_Duncan Wu closed in on the child before him, no older than eight or nine. The young human child stared up at him, somber eyes that pleaded with him, as his hands held in front of Wu, as if begging for something._

"Please!" The remaining thug cried out, his blade on the floor, having been dropped in fear at the sight before him. Duncan Wu stood in the middle of the area now, dragging the unconscious bodies of two thugs by their hair. Leaving a trail of fresh blood as he moved. Thunder cracks down loudly in the distance behind Duncan, as he stands in the now increasing rain before the last one. Menacingly, as if he were an ogre in his own right. He proceeds to drop the two, their bodies falling to the ground with a loud thud as he faces the lone triad. "I-I'll do anything you want! You want in? I'll let you in!" 

_Duncan raises his hand above the child, his downtrodden eyes meeting his own, before slamming it down on the child's head, bashing him right between his eyes. Tears burst from the kid, as he looks up at Duncan, before Duncan starts to pummel his face in. "Yeah Dunky, just like that! You take care of it and I'll nab the food!" Sketch said, eager to rob the kid while Duncan handled the dirty work. Moving over to dig through the child's food stash. "Why...Why are you doing this to me?" The kid cries out weakly, unable to defend himself from Duncan's beating of him. As Wu starts to choke him, not even looking him in the eye._

"Why...Just let me go, I'll give you anything you want! Y-You want in? There's a-" His words are interrupted by a swift blow to the face from Duncan, as he keeps pounding his head to mush, bruises forming all over his face. "Door. Door code. I have a door. Code! Stop! 8861! 8861!" Is0bel and Gobbet only watch the scene before them unfold, silent as Duncan does not stop with the Triad's words. 

_The child lies unconscious before Sketch and Duncan, as Sketch grins like a bandit, holding a sack filled with his haul. "Oh boy Dunky Wu! Great Job! Keep this sup and we'll be swimmin in food dunkaroo! Livin it up the way us street kids know how!" Sketch said, smile pronounced like a mad hyena, as Duncan looks down at the unconscious child with a face of regret. Before falling in line behind Sketch and walking away silently._

Duncan dropped the final thug, his body colliding with the ground with a loud thud. As he surveys the mess he's made around him, the bodies of beaten thugs littering the floor as another lightning strike cracks in the distance louder. Gobbet comes up to him, a impressed expression on her face as she speaks. "Wow. Just, wow Duncan. That. Was. Awesome! Those assholes had it coming with the way they talked to you, and you finally broke something that's not my arms! Didn't know you had it in you big-" Duncan doesn't bother responding to her, only moving towards the metallic door of the Lotus Den building, proceeding to turn the door handle to open the way in. The pair move up to him, Gobbet attempting to get another word in, but he cuts her off.

"Don't." Is the only word Wu says, looking at the two. "We're doing this my way, and that's the only way it's gonna go. I'm going in alone." Duncan's voice rises with the last sentence, as he enters the Lotus Den. The smell of grime fills his senses immediately upon entering the small building. The floor was pale colored, any remnants of tiling messed up, or stained with something else. The lighting was dim, making it feel like a rat's nest the deeper he went within. He was barely able to see the coloring of the walls, only observing faint hints of a dim light metallic green as he descended down a hallway before him. Coming across a door with a keypad, he opts to enter in the code he eloquently obtained from the past thugs before him. Opening the door and stepping right through.

A figure stands in the middle of it, alert. His stance is rigid, as his eyes gaze at Duncan, his face wore the wear and tear of a underworld life. Cybered up, and built like a truck as Wu takes note of one of his eyes seemingly not working. "Well? What are you here for, killer?" The man's voice is rough and deep, as Duncan chooses his words carefully, uneager to attempt to fight him. "Are you Strangler Bao?" Duncan said, as the man stared at him with indifference. "Yes, I am. What of it?" Bao replied, his eyes sizing Wu up. "Message for you from Kindly Cheng, listen to that and I'll be on my way." Duncan said, producing the memory stick Cheng passed him to Bao and handing it over.

"Thats it? All that for a message? I got one for you, tell Cheng the next time she sends another errand boy, I'm sending them back in a box." Strangler huffs, as he inserts the memory stick into his head, playing the message privately to himself. Duncan looks on, as Strangler is initially amused, before playing a theater of emotions in front of the former lone-star. From surprise, to anger, a crescendo of shock and awe, ending in submission. Strangler Bao had transformed into a one man act in merely a minute as he opens his mouth to speak, his voice a low rumble now.

"Out...And tell her I'll be in tommorow morning." Bao said, hesitation within his words. "It's been a pleasure." Are the only words Duncan says as he back out, Gobbet and Is0bel waiting for him awkwardly in the rain. The pair is soaked, with looks of frustration on their face as Duncan steps out. "Well Duncan. Did you strangle him too? " Gobbet eagerly said, as Duncan looks at her and Is0bel for only a second before turning to walk away. "No, I gave him the message. We can go now." Duncan gives the Walled City one last look as he begins to go back the way they came. The pair awkwardly following behind him, as the cool rain cascaded down on his shoulders, providing welcome relief. His legs momentarily get weak as he gazes to the sky. 

_"Wow Dunk! Your one fucked up kid! You even killed em!" Sketch said, sneering at him. "Don't worry though. I'd never sell you out! Even if you'd kill ten of em! No narc's gonna get between you n me Dunky Wu. We only got each other out on these streets!" Sketch exclaimed proudly, as Duncan uncomfortably looks back at the alleyway where he executed the formerly breathing child. "Yeah." Duncan said, as Sketch places a small hand on his shoulder. "I'm never leaving Dunk!"_

_"Never!"_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the one time I'm using a mission name as the chapter name. It just fit too well.


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